It Was Fun to Buy There

I stopped the bookstore at O’Hare. I figured some business books were in order. I thought they might help spur some ideas for the project I was traveling to work for. I picked out a few and went to the counter. There I was greeted by a smiling young man.

He noticed I was eyeing the books on the counter.

“Still looking?” he said still smiling.

“Nah, I have to save some books to buy on way back,” I smiled too.

“Because you bought more than 3 books, I get to give you this fabulous and useful tote bag. Would you like me to put these fabulous books inside this fabulous and useful totebag?”

“No, I think I’ll put the books in my carryon.” I partially opened my bag and stuffed the books in as best I could, but one book and the tote wouldn’t cooperate. The man behind the counter enjoyed watching my book packing adventure.

“Looks like you’ll be putting the totebag inside your other totebag.” he said.

“Yep, I’ll be totally toting, the totebags. There! That works. See you on the way back.”

“I hope so.”

What Customers Want

That young man made my morning. He turned a chain bookstore into a conversation with a friend. It wasn’t about how much I was spending. I about the experience. The brand was the young man’s great disposition. He’s a guy who likes his customers.

He does things I value.

He talked to me as an intelligent person worth knowing.

He made the experience pleasant — fun.

He left me with a story to tell.

You can bet that I’ll be back in that book store. I need to tell him how great the books are.

Field Trip

I’m on an airplane to meet with a project partner for the next few days. What a great opportunity to be a customer. I’ll be capturing moments and ideas for posts to come. Can’t let those real events go unrecorded. Observing is what writers do. I figure I’ll collect a week’s worth of ideas in the next hour or two.

I love flying, but the airport I’m flying into always has a delay. . . . More after I’ve landed.

What’s Your Name

When is a rose not a rose? When it is Compassion. When a car not a car? When its a Model J DUESENBERG. Why did I quit teaching? Because I couldn’t find another word.

It’s true that’s the reason.

I left college being called a master teacher, with student teachers following me into the classroom. It had something to do with my philosophy that if I couldn’t sit in a desk all day, I’d be damned if I would ask a 6-year-old to try to do so. I loved the kids and the teaching, but when new friends asked What do you do? I heard myself saying, I’m a teacher, but not like any you ever knew. That wasn’t good. That’s when I realized that I needed a new word or I wouldn’t be teaching.

You’ve probably not left a career over a word, and probably suspect there was more to it. There was, and there wasn’t. The way folks viewed me was the problem. I wasn’t what they imagined. I didn’t like being put in their box.

But we rely on words figure out our world view.

There is no getting away from that.The next best thing is picking our words.

What Are You? a Blogger? a Writer? a Publisher? a Sales Rep? a Marketer? a Citizen Journalist? a Critic? a Martyr?

It’s a Bad Boys Convention

Look who came riding in behind the Bad Boys of Writing. It’s the Bad Boys of Business. They’re just as seductive as their counterparts, and like their writing friends, they do damage. Get these con guys in your head and they can blow your productivity.

There’s Barriers, Then There’s Badly Broken

Yesterday I wanted to switch my son’s Sprint/Nextel account over to online pay. I knew the drill. I’ve done it before plenty of times on plenty of websites. I hit pay bill and enterred the data. They requested a BAN passcode. Huh? What’s that?

Under that picture was this disclaimer:

Note: The approval process can take up to 10 business days. If you have a payment due before then, please use another payment method.

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